SPORTS

Golden girl

By Suwitcha Chaiyong, Photos courtesy of Bangkok Post and Natthanan Junkrajang

Thai swimmer comes up a winner

International reporters recently voted Natthanan Junkrajang (Aume) the best female athlete of the 24th SEA Games. Her outstanding achievements include winning four gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze.

The 21-year-old swimmer exceeded her own expectations by setting new records in the 200-metre freestyle, the 4 x 100-metre freestyle relay and the 4 x 200-metre freestyle relay.

• Did you know •

In Spain, 3,168 people took part in a 24-hour relay race to break a Guinness World Record.

�I didn�t expect to break any records, but I knew that my times had been improving,� Aume said.

Her records made her a qualifier for the 200-metre freestyle and 400-metre freestyle events at the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing.

�While I was beating the other swimmers, I was just thinking that I had to win a gold medal because I want to go to the Olympics,� she said.

WATER BABY

From an early age, Aume loved playing in the water. Eventually her dad decided to take her for swimming lessons. It wasn�t long before her natural skills were noticed by swimming instructors.

�After I learned to swim, a coach at my primary school asked me to go out for the school team,� she said.

Aume soon got into the routine of preparing for competitions. She had to train almost every day and spent four to five hours at a time in the pool. Though she doesn�t mind the discipline, sometimes the work can be too strenuous.

�Occasionally I don�t feel like training,� she said. �Every athlete feels the same way sometimes, but we have a responsibility to keep going.�

WIN-LOSE SITUATION

All the hard work and discipline led to Aume becoming a national youth athlete at the age of 15. She still had to go through some hard times, though.

�At the age of 16, I was one of the leading swimmers,� she said. �I had very high hopes, and I wanted to win. But I felt devastated when I lost a lot of competitions.�

After consulting her parents and her coach, Aume accepted the realities of sport competitions.

�I had to accept that there was just as much chance of losing as winning. I vowed that I wouldn�t cry if I lost again,� she said.

With more realistic expectations, Aume decided to keep going.

�I had to work on my weak points,� she said. �I felt tense for a while, so I took a few days off and gradually began to relax.�

A FINE BALANCE

Being a Thai national athlete is tough because there�s not a lot of financial support available. With this in mind, Aume tries to find a balance between her studies and her sporting commitments.

�I don�t know how far I can go as a swimmer, so I have to work on my studies,� she said. �In Thailand, athletes don�t have a career waiting when they retire from sport, so we have to think about the future.�

Aume is happy with what she has achieved and is looking forward to doing her best at the Olympics.

�If I can do well, it will be one of the highlights of my life,� she said. �It�ll mean that I�m one of the best swimmers in the world.�

	expectation (n): a belief that something will happen qualifier (n): a person or team that has defeated others in order to enter a particular competition train (v): to prepare yourself for a particular activity, especially a sport discipline (n): a method of training your mind or body strenuous (adj): needing great effort and energy devastated (adj): extremely upset consult (v): to go to somebody for information or advice vow (v): to make a serious promise realistic (adj): accepting in a sensible way what is actually possible to do tense (adj): nervous and worried, and unable to relax financial (adj): connected with money highlight (n): the best, most interesting or most exciting part of something